Formaldehyde fumigator



W. DREYFUS FORMALDEHYDE FUMIGATOR Oct. 2 1923.

Filed May 6, .1922

% IN VEN TOR ATTORNEY Patent @ct teas.

is A ii a ix" hdtdild WILLIAM onerous, on new roan, 1v. .assrenor. T0when nrsrnrno'rino cone PAIGE, 01 NEW' YORK,

r ooarealrron or new YORK.

Application filed May 6,

To all whom it may] concern 7 Be it known that 1, WILLIAM Dnnvnns, acitizen of the United States, residing New York city, county of heufYorlt, State of New York, have invented. new andius'eful Improvementsin Formaldehyde Fumigators, of which the following is a'spccification. f

My invention-is particularly adapted for vaporizing a body ofdisinfectant which is inflammable both as to its solid constituent andits vapor. A further object of the in ve'ntionis to provide a wicklessburner for solid alcohol, the burner being so constructed hat the areaof combustion may hedefinitely gulated. A further object of theinvention is to provide a burner of the said type so designed that theflame will remain steady throughout the vaporizing"- operation.

By reference to the drawings it will be seen that the embodiment of theinvention therein shown comprises stand A, a container B for thedisinfectant, and a burner C.

The stand is formed of a complete sheet of metalrectangularly bent so asto provide the opposite closed sides a, the stand being open at theremaining two sides. The st nd strengthened by means'of the edges Z). Atits upper surface the stand is provided with a circular opening); 0.,and at the three points 'D. small rectangular sections are cut and bentupwardly so as to provide stops for the side wall of thedisinfectant-container 13., so that the latter may readily be placed inits proper position upon the stand.

The burner C. consists of a relatively shallow cylinder formed in itsupper surface with the central circular opening E. and with the airducts F. on opposite sides of the opening.

The burner is particularly designed for vaporization of pa f aldehyde ormixtures thereof, and for such purpose the con tainer 13., stand A. andthe burner C. are of fixed relative proportions in accordance with thecubic feet of room space to be disinfected. It is important that thevaporization of paraformaldehyde should proceed in suhstantial volume,and yet not so rapidly as to cause vapor ignition bv the flame. It isevident therefore that the flame must be controlled. For this reason ithas not been considered feasible to employ sol1d alcohol as commonlyused, that is to say, without a 1922. Serial no. 559,065.

wick. For example, should the container be of such restricted diameteras to enablea flame of the proper size, the burner would he so great indepth,.that as the fuel became consumed, the flame would recede from thedisinfectant container to such an extent that no effective result couldbe obtained. On the other hand, if the diameter of the fuel containerwas made sufficiently great to negative the effect of the graduallowering of the fuel surface by combustion, the flame would be so greatthat the over-rapid vaporization would cause ignition of the vapors andthe disinfectant itself.

The burner shown and described herein renders it possiblerto employ arelatively shallow container for the solidified alcohol, and to burn thesame with a restricted flame area so that the-exact time ratio ofvaporization be gauged in advance and the body of solidified alcoholproportioned exactly in accordance with the quantityrof disinfectant tobe vaporized.

It will be noted that the top of thezburner is formed with the air ductsF. N ow when the alcohol is 'ignitedthrough the flame opening E, airwill he drawn into the, burner through the said air ducts by theexpansion of the air within the burner and its passage through thecentral opening with the flame. The atmospheric pressure of air enteringthrough ducts l acts as a continuous air cushion upon the surface of thealcohol, and drives the alcohol vapor through the way of leastresistance, that is the central flame opening E, the practical resultbeing that the area of combustion of the alcohol is confined tosubstantially the area of the flame opening. Inasmuch as the radiatedheat so softens the solidified alcohol that it flows to maintain aconstant level within the fuel container, it is evident that thelimitation of the area of combustion will not affect the combustion ofthe entire quantity of fuel within the container. lhus the interior ofthe fuel container may bereduced to substantially the same as, or veryslightly larger than, the block of solid alcohol which it encloses.Inasmuch as the fuel container may be made quite shallow,while'enclosing the, required quantity of fuel. the'rec'ession of theflame through gradual consumption of the fuel is so slight as to benegligible.

I have found it desirable to employ two air ducts only, and onsubstantially opposite sides of the central flame opening of the burner,and to form these air ducts of very small and the tendency is for theflame to be driven to the opposite side of the flame opening. It is alsohighly desirable that the a surface of the burner be smooth, so that thereflected heat from the metal container of disinfectant maybe readilydiffused by the passage of air over the surface of the fuel can. In theabsence of proper diffusion of this reflected heat, the alcohol willbecome over-heated and the flame will become too large. lhe properdistance between the upper surface of the burner and the lower wall ofthe container for the disinfectant, will depend upon the sizes of theseunits, for example, a burner containing 19; ounces of solidifledalcohol.will be sufficient to vaporize two ounces of formaldehyde, and it isdesirable to have a distance of 1 inches between the disinfectantcontainer and the top of the burner. The flame opening should beapproximately inches.

It will be understood that various modiflcations may be made in theembodiment shown in the drawings, without departing from the spirit ofmy invention.

. What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent being i 1. Awickless burner for solidified alco hol, consisting of a fuel containerhaving an upper horizontal wall closed with the exception of a centralflame opening of small area relative to the wall and two'opposed airopenings each adjacent the flame opening and each of small area'relativeto said flame opening, for maintaining a steady flame and preventingflickering thereof.

2. A wickless burner adapted to enclose a quantity of solidified alcoholof a definite combustion-surface area and having a Wall formed with aflame-opening of substantially less area than said combustion surfaceand means for limiting the area of combusopening, substantially as shownand described.

3. A wickless burner for a body of solidifled, alcohol comprising meansfor restricting the point of combustion to a predetermined restrictedsurface area of the alcohol,

said means comprising a horizontal wall enclosing the upper surface areaof the body of alcohol except for a centrally disposed flame opening ofsmall area relatively to said wall and opposed air openings eachadjacent the flame opening and each of small area relative to said flameopening.

4. A wickless burner for a body of solidified alcohol comprising acontainer having an upper horizontal wall formed with a centrallydisposed flame opening, and two air slots at opposite sides of saidflame opening.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses. 7

' WILLIAM DREYFUS. Witnesses: 7

JOHN A. MURCUSE, LEAH FRIED.

tion to substantiallyt-he area of the flame

